Hello! I am Jessica Dory.
Long time Denver mom, artist and perfectionist Virgo.This is me holding my brother in 1980.
What’s with 5280? Well Denver is the Mile High City and a mile is 5280 ft - something I always grew up knowing - I had my first birthday here in 1978.
(Also I love old photos so much, like so so much.)
Babies do eventually come out!
Here I am 9 hours before my last baby was born, at 41+1 days. So ready! I have three children, ages 4, 6 and 15! I was 29 when my first baby was born and 40 when my last child was born. Advanced Maternal Age anyone?
Although you can’t tell from this image, I always loved being pregnant and went through some struggles to get there with my second baby- more details below.
I believe Birth is an amazing, transformative and natural process. I believe in trusting your body and your self.
What do I bring to your birth space?
* Doula & Birth Photography Certification * Respect for the natural birth process and the transition of becoming a parent * Respect for every human and the right to be yourself * The experiences of my own three births with midwives and doulas present * My own personal struggles with fertility and loss that have deepened my compassion and my knowledge base * The ability to just hold space, problem solve, and my sense of humor and grace *
**Here I am holding my own long awaited sweet rainbow baby, Opal Eleanor Rose.
My Philosophy Around Birth
All three of my children were born at home with midwives, HOWEVER I strongly believe that the very best place to give birth is where you feel most comfortable. Choosing a provider and location which are in line with your vision of your birth is important. Whether it’s an OB you love, stand alone birth center, Midwife hospital care team or one of the many experienced home birth midwives in the metro area - finding the right fit for you is possible.
Our culture often treats Birth as a medical condition - which it sometimes can be - and medical assistance when needed is absolutely essential. I believe that for most women, birth is a normal physiological process that can be accomplished with no or minimal interventions.
However there are no guarantees with birth. Medical intervention when necessary is life saving and essential. Your choices are for you to make. There is no shame in choosing what works best for you in the moment and I will be there to support you and your choices at every step. I believe you deserve the autonomy to say what your BIRTH day looks like - it’s such a BIG day - one that you will never forget.
I believe that you deserve support from the people around you - so you can make the best decisions for yourself and your baby. And if plans change (sometimes they do) you deserve the support to make empowered decisions which leave you feeling seen and heard and confident in the decisions you made for yourself and your baby.
These are my Stories
My Experiences w/Fertility, Pregnancy and Giving Birth
* I do discuss Miscarriage and Infertility *
My first son was born in 2006, when I was 28. I got pregnant easily - immediately and was so excited to become a mother. This was with my first husband. My labor finally started at 41+2 which at the time I thought was extremely overdue - but now know is pretty normal. My labor started at around 9 pm on December 30th. My midwife told me to try and rest - and I had contractions about 10 minutes apart all night long. The midwives arrived around 3 pm the following day - New Year’s Eve! My son Teague Ayles was born at 9:41 pm. 24 hours of labor including nearly 2 hours of pushing (all super normal - and I was so so tired) He was born in a birth tub, with his cord wrapped twice around.
The birth of my daughter is a longer story and involves a fair amount of struggle and heartbreak, she is our rainbow baby after fertility struggles.
I married my husband Scott when my son was 4. We knew we wanted more children. After getting married we tried, and we tried, and I knew something was wrong. We saw a fertility specialist and there was an issue. We did rounds of IUI and after about a year we got pregnant. We lost that baby in mid-December of 2013 at around 16 weeks gestation. We were all devastated. I went in for a D&C the week before Christmas, and it was one of the hardest experiences I have been through.
Spring of 2015. We decided to go through the IVF process and in June we knew we were pregnant! After a lot of anxiety early on, I finally settled into pregnancy after we passed the 16 week mark.
Labor started at 41 weeks on February 6th 2016. Early labor felt easy, I laid in bed until about 7 am and sat on the birth ball, drank tea and felt pretty darn relaxed. I sent my husband to get coffee for the midwives at about 9 am and and everything suddenly kicked up a notch! The midwives and my friend Niki (my doula!) and a birth photographer all arrived around 9:30 am as I was heading towards transition. We discovered baby was posterior, and pushing was HARD WORK! This was literally a 5 person job - I needed so much support with pushing. But it worked, and my daughter Opal Eleanor Rose was born at 11:58 am. SO much happiness. 3.5 hours of active labor, 1 hour of pushing.
My third child was a sneaky one. I was 8 weeks pregnant before I realized I was pregnant. I had been wondering to myself, “why am I suddenly so tired and emotional all the time?”
On a whim I purchased a pregnancy test at Target and I was so confused when there was an immediate change of color. Oh wow! I was beside myself with every possible emotion. We had worked so hard to get Opal - I didn’t think a spontaneous pregnancy was possible.
His due date was December 11 and yep, I went to 41+1. I think I experienced about 2 weeks of prodromal labor. I thought for sure he was coming the day before and told my midwife and my parents it was time - and then - Labor Just Stopped. I cried tears of frustration. That night around 11 pm I thought to myself “this feels like it could get interesting” and it sure did. I went to bed with mild contractions and woke up with full blown contractions at 1:30 am.
The midwives and my friend Niki the doula arrived about 3:30 am. I watched the birth pool get filled up, focusing on the lights reflected in the water to distract myself from contractions. As soon as it was full when my midwife asked if I wanted to get in, I declined, climbed on the bed in hands and knees position and with three pushes my third and final baby, Forrest John, was born at 4:43 am. Two weeks of prodromal labor, 3.5 hours of active labor and three pushes!